• Sarah Palin, the Alaskan 'Barracuda' and former Governor of Alaska, does not speak any
foreign language, did not own a passport until 2006 and has never lived abroad.

• In 2006, she had obtained a passport to visit members of the Alaska National Guard who were
stationed for fifteen months in Northern Kuwait, and that was the first time Palin ever got to
travel outside North America.

• Her folksy Alaskan tone in speech has invited several comments on its unusualness and
out-of-the-ordinary accent heard among natives of Wisconsin, Idaho and Canada.

• Palin actually has an Alaskan accent that is attributed to the Matnuska and Susitna region,
which is exactly where young Palin was brought up in her hometown of Wasilla.

• The dialect spoke by the people of Alaska is quite unusual thanks to the diversity of
inhabitants who came and settled in this land from far off places.

• In many ways, Alaskan English has a tiny amount of "Canadian raising" in it. Many residents
of Alaska originally came from the Pacific Northwest or Western Canada and features of the dialects
of these regions are most prominent in Alaskan English. Immigrants to Alaska from the Midwest have
also contributed unique elements to the Alaskan speech.

• Although Sarah Palin has limited linguistic skills, "She clearly has a very canny ability
to connect with people. What she says. How she says it. And her body language," said former Alaska
Governor Tony Knowles, a Democrat whom Palin defeated in 2006.

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